Bow to the Sinner
by Kuro Guardian
Summary: Displaced in space and time young Tenzin must play the part of Avatar until he can find the real one… if there is an Avatar now. Can a half-remembered bed time story see him through or will he have to invent a savior from whole cloth?


Dusk slides down the time worn walls like oil across water as a young boy almost dances around a shallow pool. Slender and small the child looks no older than six, though he is just nearly ten and in another year or two will earn his arrows as a master. In truth the look of intensity on his face belies both the apparent serenity of his movements as well as his age. A turn and he is still… from the shadows steps his father a tall, bearded man whose bare scalp is marked with a blue arrow tattoo. Gray eyes study the boy with something like disquiet, before a calloused hand reaches out to brush over his stubble dusting his scalp. "What are you doing now Tenzin?"

An untidy shrug and then the boy is stepping back eyes riveted to the floor. Frail shoulders draw up as Tenzin gnaws on his lip the muscle in one cheek seizing. "Training." Ignoring the sigh from his father Tenzin tries to relax with little success. Why his father insists on acting as through there is something wrong with his studies he doesn't know. The space between is a fascinating area of study and if he is going to really earn his tattoos then he will need to present something new… right? Otherwise… otherwise Bumi is right and he is just a faker to the title of air nomad. And he isn't really.

Kneeling Tenzin's father Aang places a heavy hand on each of his small shoulders – "Tenzin, when I say to stay away from certain things I do so for a reason. I know you are trying to learn about the Void and its applications – but it is a dangerous subject." Taking out a rosary the elder airbender conjures up a gently swirling current that makes the necklace spiral. "Life is the wind that sweeps through the Void, and where it touches there is possibility. Even as there is one bead following another on this necklace there are a million, million possible worlds spiraling into infinity – and the layers between them are so thin they might as well not exist sometimes. In opening yourself to the Void, you open yourself to these possibilities – and if they touch you back there is nothing I can do for you."

This is – this is something amazing. The Avatar is not bound by the rules of normal men, and to hear that there is nothing he can do in this situation… Something very like excitement bubbles up inside his bird-like chest as the boy studies the necklace without a trace of interest. "I'm only trying to see how far I can go. I'm not going to actually do anything father. You worry too much." And even as the words leave his mouth Tenzin knows he has said the wrong thing. He doesn't need to see his father tense or watch his almost periwinkle blue eyes shutter or his jaw tighten. He is still unprepared for the suddenly gale-force winds that all but lift him from his feet. His father's eyes glow.

This isn't his father – this is the Avatar and it is wondrous. Searching for the thread within the wind Tenzin finds himself riding it even as the strength of the sudden storm forces him to swallow his laughter. There is no sense to be found in the cacophony of the winds around him, but that is almost better than fine. Closing his own eyes he can feel the absence that breathes – the space between. Grasping it he pulls with his spirit and then –

He is blinded by the light or

He is blinded by complete darkness or

The weight of each wave is a hand forcing his head underwater.

"Tenzin!" His father voice multiplied by a thousand and the winds are calming even as the cold begins to pull him under. Cold as a physical thing – a thing with teeth and claw-tipped hands. Flailing about until his small hands scrape against something smooth, massive, and hard. Ice. He is trying to catch a grip on ice and it is not working – but maybe… Even as an airbender he cannot hold his breath indefinitely and the need for air is making concentration difficult. Still – success is the feeling of suction between palm and ice. Slowly the distance between surface and depth is closed, or at least it seems so although it couldn't possibly have taken that long. As he pulls in one wheezing breath after another it is all he can do not sink back into the relatively warmer water. "Look another one!"

Skin too numb to tell, but hands gloved in what might be fur yank him up – or try to. "Shit. I think his hands are frozen to the ice." A harsh voice… well no. Actually if not for the apparent frustration the voice would be very pleasant like honeyed chocolate. A higher voice answers with something like concern. "Well how the hell am I supposed to do that? It isn't like I have any control over my fucking firebending! You know damn well what would happen if – oh fuck you!" God they're worse than Bumi and Kya which is really saying something. A twist of the wrist has his right hand free. After the world cuts back in a minute or two of struggle frees the other hand. None of this of course helps to warm him and he can feel himself succumbing to a final darkness.

The transition from unconsciousness to awareness is like the glimmer of a minnow in shallow waters. Light flickers across the darkness behind his eyelids accompanied by an assault of odors. With a groan the child turns his face into the soft fur surrounding him. Soft fur? "I think he's waking up now Sora. I'm just glad one of them is okay." Ignoring what that statement could mean Tenzin gropes for the source of his rising panic. There is something about his position and the things he smells that is very, very wrong – "Oh do shut up Katara!"

He just barely manages to deflect the reflexive attacks the two girls toss at him. He is almost sorry about doing so however as a wave of vertigo nails him between the eyes. Falling over the child moans as he buries his face in the soft white fur that smells so much like Oogi's… "No." Carefully pushing himself up this time the child actually looks at his impromptu bedding. There is too much fur here and – Here is a bowl of smooth ice tinted blue with a jagged rim. The sky is a black wave topped with a purple crest racing to drown the sun. The constellations are in the wrong places. "No." Vaguely Tenzin realizes he might be starting to hyperventilate as a breeze begins to pick up.

This realization takes second place to the problem of two girls in Water Tribe dress staring back at him. The one on the left looks odd with her Fire Nation amber eyes and ivory skin against the dark blue of her water tribe clothing. Her hair hangs unimpeded down her back, and she could ve anywhere from 10 to fifteen. The fire hanging above her palm flickers as though caught in a gale, but the look in her eyes promises dire consequences if he writes her off. Interesting, but not especially pressing all things considered. No, the problem here is the one on the right with her darker skin, wide blue eyes, and heart-shaped face. The difference between this girl and the woman in a certain family portrait is vast yet they are obviously the same person. And that is not okay. It isn't. "No."

The fire nation brat is saying something, but while he can see her lips moving the rushing in his ears is entirely too loud. Time is a series of photos – the girls who look so very much alike. The girls staring at him with apprehension. A hill that is actually a flank. A horn around which is tied a bit of leather. A blue arrow outlined in fur and – "No." The cold part of himself he never addresses neglects to listen as it puts it all together. The girl who looks like his mother as a child is moving toward him and that is not okay. The beast they are standing on is not breathing and that is not okay. The smell that lies over everything is related to the red stained fur he is not going to acknowledge. The firebender is crouched next to some roasted meat. There is a bloody machete beside her. "Where's Aang?" The firebender looks to right and there is a shape under an Earth Nation blanket. The world swims away.

"Hey! Wake up idiot!" A thoughtless wave of the hand results in a squawk and smug laughter. Opening eyes that somehow burn with fatigue Tenzin carefully sits up. It's daylight again and the girls from last night are still being rather unhelpfully disturbing. "Damn it Katara stop laughing and help me!" The fire nation kid is frantically trying to keep her grip on the ice, but her panic is of no aid to her as it is melting everything around her. "I told you to leave him alone. Maybe you should learn to listen to me. I am the big sister after all." Okay. Okay – his mother doesn't have a younger sister. The figure out of the corner of his eye doesn't have to mean anything just yet. With a frantic twist the aunt he doesn't have is on the ice mumbling things his mother would wash his mouth out with soap over. "Thanks a lot witch boy."

"I'm not a witch you stupid Fire Nation Bitch!"

Silence buries them like an avalanche as both girls stare at him with something approaching wonder, as though he has said something never thought of. Firebitch is the first to shake it off as she literally breathes fire. "I am water tribe you ignorant asshole!" Whatever else she might have been about to say is lost as she falls through the ice courtesy of the heat she gives off in waves. "Idiot." Ignoring the drama happening before him the young airbender decides to approach the bogeyman in the corner. If he is right then… This doesn't make sense. How can he be alive if his father is dead? So he must be wrong then it's the only way. Before he can rethink his logic he's pulled off the sheet and – he vomits over the side of the ice. Idly comes the thought that blue tattoos don't show up very well against blue skin. He's vomiting bile and all of a sudden he's hungry.

"Hey. Are you okay?" The one that looks like his mother – actually is his mother if he's honest with himself. "Do I look okay?" He doesn't mean to be rude… actually yes he does. He does mean to be rude, because quite frankly this is complete bullshit. He needs an avatar to get home, and his only recourse is dead. Well no. There should be a water tribe avatar somewhere around here. "Who is the avatar now?" The whispered argument between the two sisters abruptly stops - "Why jackass? Gonna cast a spell on 'em with your stupid witch powers?" The ugly grin she wears is short-lived thanks to one hard smack to the head curtosy of her older sister. Rolling her eyes at firebitch's writhing on the …ground?... Katara gives him a gentle smile and it is all he can do to keep from hurling again. "There is no avatar."


End file.
